Ricky Gervais says receiving a knighthood would be "irrelevant", adding that he might only accept the honour to annoy his critics.
The comedian and actor, 65, told his YouTube channel on Friday that he doubts he will ever be offered the appointment, but admitted he is undecided on how he would respond if he were.
His comments come weeks after he confirmed plans to finally marry his partner of 40 years, the novelist Jane Fallon, to protect his estimated £141 million estate from a hefty inheritance tax bill.
"I don't think I'll ever be offered it. I don't know," Gervais told his viewers. "If my mum was alive, I'd definitely do it."
Gervais, who rose to global fame as the creator and star of the BBC sitcom The Office, said he could not see any real pros and cons to becoming a knight.
"Would I do it now? Do I care? Does it matter? It doesn't matter," he said. "If it was close to my house I might. I don't know. I don't think there's any pros and cons really."
Tourism and horses
A knighthood is one of the highest honours awarded by the British monarch, carrying the title of Sir. Stars who have been appointed a knighthood include David Beckham, Idris Elba, Elton John and Lewis Hamilton.
However, Gervais questioned the modern significance of the award.
"I'm not a big royalist, but I'm not a big anti-royalist," he said. "I think it's so irrelevant, isn't it? It's like... it's tourism, isn't it? I don't know."
He added that he might be persuaded if the honour still carried medieval expectations.
"Do you know what, if a knighthood meant like it did in the olden days, I could ride around on a big horse with a sword, I'd take it," he said.
"But as it is, it doesn't mean anything, does it? I couldn't be called Sir by anyone, so I don't know if it would make a lot of difference. For a laugh. Oh, I might do it to annoy people. Maybe I would."
The prospect of irritating his detractors appeared to be the strongest draw. "All the people that would be really annoyed, that would just tip the balance," he said. "I like that. It's my favourite."
Secret offers
Despite his indifference, the comedian conceded that he would be reluctant to cause offence if officials ever did reach out.
"But then there's part of me that thinks if someone offers me something, I don't want to insult them," he said. "Um, I really don't know. That's a really tricky one."
He also joked that he might have already rejected the honour in private.
"And if I turned it down, I probably wouldn't tell anyone because I wouldn't want to embarrass anyone. So I might have been offered it!" he said.
"For all you know they're calling me all the time, and I'm going, 'Nah!'"
Inheritance tax plans
Gervais's reflections on the honours system follow his recent admission that he intends to marry Fallon, 65, for financial reasons.
The couple met while studying at University College London in 1982 and moved into a flat in King's Cross, above what Gervais has described as a "seedy sauna", two years later.
They have spent decades insisting that marriage is pointless, with Gervais once declaring there was no reason to wed "before the eyes of God as there is no God". He has frequently said they were already married "for all intents and purposes" and joked that their "fake marriage has lasted longer than a real one".
However, the pair are now planning to tie the knot to ensure their wealth is protected when one of them dies.
Under UK law, married couples and civil partners automatically benefit from a spouse exemption, allowing an estate to be passed to a surviving partner free of inheritance tax. Unmarried couples do not receive this exemption, meaning tax is generally charged at 40 per cent on the portion of an estate above the available tax-free threshold.
This is a significant distinction for Gervais, whose £141 million fortune includes a property portfolio worth millions. He owns a £14.75 million nine-bedroom mansion in Hampstead, north London, two flats in New York, and a riverside home in Marlow, Buckinghamshire.
He recently won planning permission to build a new £5 million neo-Georgian mansion on the Marlow estate. The newbuild will boast a grand entrance hall, a galleried landing, a drawing room, a reading area, a home gym, a lift, and a master bedroom with a terrace overlooking an existing pond and tennis court.
Cancer diagnosis
Fallon, a Sunday Times best-selling author whose novels include Getting Rid of Matthew, has an estimated net worth of £1.3 million.
She was diagnosed with breast cancer in March. The disease was caught early following a routine mammogram.
Speaking to Saga Magazine about his decision to marry her, Gervais said tax was the sole motivation.
"It is [the reason]. And that will be the reason I marry. We haven't done it yet," he said. "But if it wasn't for [tax]... why?"
"It's mad. How more married can you be? We share all our money, we've been living together for 40 years. Some marriages don't last a year."
He added: "It's horrible isn't it? 'I've got to get around to marrying, before I die.'"
No romance
The couple decided early in their relationship not to marry or have children, a choice Fallon has said she never regretted.
Appearing on the Second Act podcast with Ateh Jewel earlier this year, the author said she had never dreamed of weddings or motherhood as a child.
"When I was little, you know the cliche of a little girl is they imagine their wedding day and their wedding dress... it was none of that, ever," she said.
"I would think about getting a dog or something. It was always about work and my life. I would think about the flat that I would live in and stuff like that. But I was never into that kind of romance stuff."
